Re: Questions

[Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org>]

<quote who="Robert Staudinger">

> (i) Concerns can be heard throughout the community every now and then,
> that the increasing corporate interest and investment makes it harder and
> harder to contribute code for volunteers.
> Q: What is your feeling about that?

I think the problems that impact volunteer contributions are very similar to
the problems that impact corporate contributions - it's not a zero sum game;
we can be better on the whole!

> (ii) Are you interested in working on making it easier for people willing
> to contribute code?

Yes, though that work would most likely be independent from my position as a
director of the GNOME Foundation.

> (iii) What measures will you conduct to make contribution of code easier
> for volunteers. (E.g. it can be rather frustrating having an unreviewed
> patch in bugzilla for months.)

Not sure there's a huge amount that can be done from a GNOME Foundation POV,
aside from supporting community initiatives. I have some thoughts about it
without my Board hat on, but they're still simmering.

> (iv) The GNOME Advisory has been formed to handle communication between
> partys with commercial interest and the GNOME project.
> Q: Do you think that a similar institution should be formed to handle
> community feedback in an organised manner or will community contributors
> have to communicate back using mailing lists and IRC as it always was?

The Advisory Board was established to maintain a very different kind of
relationship to the kind we handle in the community every day -- that is,
the AB provides a conduit between the project (as represented by the Board)
and contributing companies.

Another "institution" won't help us here. If there are issues of conflict,
that is something the Board can handle. I'm not sure why you're suggesting
that mailing lists and IRC are somehow "backwards" ways for the community to
interact... The AB is a conduit, rather than some specially-empowered group
that has unnatural power of GNOME. ;-)

Thanks,

- Jeff

-- 
Open CeBIT 2007: Sydney, Australia              http://www.opencebit.com.au/
 
   On a clear day, I bet you can really see the class struggle from that
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